From Rogue Member to Board Member…Reform At DMA

I meant to blog about this last week when I first read about it but never got around to it. Sometimes procrastination has its virtues, however–now you get not only the set-up but also the resolution…

Every month I look forward to receiving Associations Now, for one main reason: Lisa Junker’s fictional case studies. I’m serious. I love them. Both my son and I are HUGE “what if…?” people, and delight in coming up with random questions like “how long would it take you to pick up a huge bag of flour spilled on the floor, piece by piece, with a chopstick?” or “What would you do if my head suddenly popped off and I was an alien?” (My son did actually ask that first question a few weeks ago; the second I posed to a group of friends back in college. And no, I wasn’t stoned when I asked it.)

In short, I like random things, exciting things, unusual things…even if they’re fictional disasters, like Lisa’s case studies. So last week when I read this tweet from Kevin Gilnack:

naturally I was curious and clicked through to read what he was talking about. It was a doozy! “Rogue” member, legal action, possible member riot, etc.

Come on, you’re thinking–this guy is just some crazy, bitter ex-board member–who’s going to listen to him? Except, wait a minute–if you check out his website (actually, at the time of this writing, the site merely says “update coming”–I saw it a few days ago and he had a lot of stuff up there. Hopefully it will be back up shortly), the guy has a lot of valid points. Then you notice that the DMA had to change the venue for its October 18 business meeting…to a much larger room, presumably to accommodate a bigger crowd than originally anticipated.

Ok, so fast forward–this guy received his cease and desist letter and just faded into the woodwork, right? Um, actually, wrong…he just got elected to the board, along with two other “reform-oriented” colleagues.

What’s the moral of this story? One pissed off member CAN make a huge difference and can impact the future of your association. I’m sure this isn’t the first time something like this has happened and I’m sure it will not be the last.